Story of Marichal and Roseboro
Was More Than Just a Photo

Today is the 40th anniversary of one of the most-infamous incidents in baseball -- San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal clubbing Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro with a bat after objecting to Mr. Roseboro pointedly zipping a return throw to Sandy Koufax past Mr. Marichal's ear.

Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday, Gwen Knapp notes that the incident was very out of character for Mr. Marichal, damaging his reputation and probably delaying his admission to Cooperstown. And it became a constant...